Asteroseismology of the Kepler V777 Herculis variable white dwarf with fully evolutionary models

Abstract

Context. DBV stars are pulsating white dwarfs with atmospheres rich in He. Asteroseismology of DBV stars can provide valuableclues about the origin, structure and evolution of hydrogen-deficient white dwarfs, and may allow to study neutrino and axion physics.Recently, a new DBV star, KIC 8626021, has been discovered in the field of the Kepler spacecraft. It is expected that furthermonitoringof this star in the next years will enable astronomers to determine its detailed asteroseismic profile.Aims. We perform an asteroseismological analysis of KIC 8626021 on the basis of fully evolutionary DB white-dwarf models.Methods. We employ a complete set of evolutionary DB white-dwarf structures covering a wide range of effective temperaturesand stellar masses. They have been obtained on the basis of a complete treatment of the evolutionary history of progenitors stars.We compute g-mode adiabatic pulsation periods for this set of models and compare them with the pulsation properties exhibited byKIC 8626021.Results. On the basis of the mean period spacing of the star, we found that the stellar mass should be substantially larger thanspectroscopy indicates. From period-to-period fits we found an asteroseismological model characterized by an effective temperaturemuch higher than the spectroscopic estimate.Conclusions. In agreement with a recent asteroseismological analysis of this star by other authors, we conclude that KIC 8626021is located near the blue edge of the DBV instability strip, contrarily to spectroscopic predictions. We also conclude that the mass ofKIC 8626021 should be substantially larger than thought.